1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to user interface desktop management and more particularly to grouping related application icons into a workspace in a desktop of a user interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
The computer desktop implements a familiar workspace paradigm for the end user interacting with the user interface of a computing application. Specifically, the computer desktop mimics the familiar top surface of a desk in which different files and documents can be placed and organized, along with ordinary tools of computing. Long part and parcel of the graphical user interface (GUI) of the conventional operating system, the desktop is the single mostly widely recognized user interface in computing today.
The icon forms part and parcel of the desktop. The icon generally is a graphical widget logically associated with an underlying document or application. Activation of the icon results in the loading of the logically associated document in a corresponding application, or the launching of a logically associated application. Each icon can include not only a logical association with an underlying document, but also each icon can include a reference to one or more parameters to be passed to the application upon launching. As it will be understood by the skilled artisan, different icons can be grouped together in a folder and the folder, itself, can be represented by an icon. In this way, the desktop can achieve a high degree of organization at the discretion of the end user.
In performing work through a desktop environment, end users repeatedly use the same collection of applications and documents. Manually launching each application and document in the collection at startup can be tedious and wasteful. Recognizing this problem, advanced operating systems provide for pre-determined desktop workspaces in which only a select group of applications are displayed. These advanced operating systems even permit the cycling of display of different “spaces”, each with its own collection of applications. However, managing the content of a “space” can be labor intensive—particularly if the content of a space is ad hoc in nature and undocumented.
Work area folders provide a similar effect. In a work area folder, different applications and documents are grouped together as in the case of a work space. The activation of the work area folder results in the launching of each application and document in the work area folder. Conversely, the closing or hiding of the work area folder results in the closing or hiding as the case may be of each application or document in the work area folder. Even still, the work area folder also can require labor intensive management in both the creation and maintenance of the content of a work area folder.